Nendo Nendo no Mi/Art Style: Pop Techniques
Sometime after the Mizu Saga, Chris developed Art Style: Pop as a way to increase the diversity of his Devil Fruit techniques. While seemingly unimpressive at first glance, it has proven itself to be one of Chris' more powerful techniques. Overview After being lectured by Sharp Francis over how a Devil Fruit user should use their powers in their first fight together, Chris dug deep and created a whole new system of fighting with his clay body. To use Art Style: Pop, Chris first transforms his innards into clay, then proceeds to connect clay channels from his lungs to his skin. Afterward, he focuses on his breathing; using long, deep breaths to pull in as much air into his lungs as possible. At the same time, while Chris begins to exhale, instead of releasing the air through his nose or mouth, he forces it through the clay channels in his body. This causes the air to be pushed through Chris' skin, and since it's made of clay, it creates clay bubbles which then encapsulate and trap the air. Therefore, while this does not improve Chris' physical condition any, it does provide Chris a number of new techniques to use in battle; up to and including combining his Pop techniques with his original Clay Clay Fruit attacks. Despite being bubbles, Chris has shown that due to them being created by his Devil Fruit powers, he has full control over how he uses them; thus, he has shown repeatedly that he can harden the surface tension of his bubbles to rival even the sturdiest of metals. It's through the use of strengthening his bubbles which helps to make Art Style: Pop the effective technique that it is. Chris has also shown the ability to control the direction and altitude of his bubbles in mid-air; making it seem as if it were through the use of psychic powers. Thus, his bubbles have been used for a multitude of reasons, be it offensive, defensive or pragmatic, such as transporting himself and others past otherwise impassable obstacles. Before the Time Skip During this process, Chris seems to take a certain pose. This is done by crossing both arms over his chest in an upright fashion while he breathes. Once he has inhaled the maximum amount of air that his lungs can sustain before tearing, his chest will expand forward before collapsing backward. Chris then swings both arms out to either side as an immeasurable number of clay bubbles form and pop at random over the surface of his skin, face, head and clothing. This effect seems to last for as long as Chris exhales through his skin. It was noted that by doing this, Chris had turned himself into a living human air pump. Despite its advantages however, Art Style: Pop comes at a cost. As Chris is unable to train the strength of his lungs, he is at the mercy of wearing himself out if the technique is overused. By focusing so heavily on his breathing, Chris runs the risk of causing serious damage to his cardiovascular system in a number of different ways. One such risk is that through expanding and contracting the lungs to such extremes, Chris can cause untold damage to the muscles lining the lungs. This is the most common side effect seen after using Art Style: Pop, as evidenced whenever Chris flinches in pain and clutches his chest. Another drawback is hyperventilation. As diagnosed by X Aphro after examining the effects of Art Style: Pop on Chris, hyperventilation is when the body produces more carbon dioxide through inhalation and exhalation than the body has within it. This removes carbon dioxide from the blood stream and causes the quantity of carbon dioxide within Chris to fall. Normally, this is then compensated through metabolism. However, as Chris burns through his metabolism rather quickly in a fight, this rarely, if ever happens. Thus leading to the physical ailments of hyperventilation; such as dizziness, weakness, fainting and seizures. This is likely what causes Chris to feel exhausted and disoriented after overusing Art Style: Pop, as well as explaining his body's tendency to spasm on occasion. Despite being told the aftereffects were too dangerous for this technique to be used, Chris decided to ignore the warnings and continue using Art Style: Pop for the remainder of the series; highly likely due to his overly strong urge to protect everything he holds dear to him. Fortunately for Chris, he can recuperate from the side effects of Art Style: Pop through plenty of rest and calmer breathing. There has been at least one case where someone had to force Chris to breathe into a paper bag to cut down on the oxygen he was inhaling, so as to cure his hyperventilation. After the Time Skip Upon arriving on his home island, Aspara after traveling with Glory alongside the Red Hair Pirates, where Chris received training under Shanks, Chris unveiled he had improved his control over Art Style: Pop; even mixing it with his newfound usage of Haki. By selecting one or a few body parts at a time, Chris can localize where he wishes to summon his clay bubbles, and thus no longer needs to use the entirety of his body as he did before. By doing so, he rarely uses his traditional stance unless he chooses to pump the air throughout his whole body. The effects seem almost instantaneous as well, as it doesn't take nearly as long to charge up the Art Style to its fullest as it used to. Furthermore, Chris can save his strength by quickly shutting off Art Style: Pop after he's through with it. All these factors combined allow Chris to make much more use out of his Art Style than he could ever have two years ago. It also prevents his body from unintentionally damaging itself in the process. By adding Busoshoku Haki with his bubbles' natural resiliency, Chris can make his bubbles nearly all but indestructible, save for only the most powerful of weapons or fighting techniques. Through performing "Clay Clay Pop Piercing Bubble," Chris managed to defeat a large number of Marines with one small bubble. Its effects were noted to be similar to that of a mix between a speeding bullet and cannon fire. And much like with his own body, whenever Chris coats his bubbles in Haki, they become blackened in coloration and lose their transparency. Techniques In this state, Chris names his attacks in much the same way as had before, but with the addition of throwing in "Pop" (Poppu) after "Clay Clay" (Nendo Nendo no.) Below is a list of techniques Chris has employed with Art Style: Pop: Pre-Time Skip * Clay Clay Pop Stairs: Chris creates an ascending ladder of bubbles in order for him to jump on top of them and reach higher altitudes. * Clay Clay Pop Stream: Chris unleashes a flurry of clay bubbles from his hands, similar to how a gatling gun can fire multiple shots at once. This attack can leave many opponents fazed if not paralyzed for a moment or two. Weaker opponents can be knocked out entirely with this attack. * Clay Clay Pop Pop: This is a bubble version of Clay Clay Clay, where Chris forms a giant clay bubble from either of his hands and throws it at the opponent(s.) Being hit by this technique has been said to be similar to having a giant thrown at someone. * Clay Clay Pop Heaven: Chris creates many large bubbles that will float high above the air after creation. The technique is capable of covering a large area, being as wide as half the size of Thriller Bark. These bubbles are then used to allow Chris or his allies to perform aerial attacks. * Clay Clay Pop Shield: The Pop equivalent of Clay Clay Shield. With this technique, Chris will create a "dome" around himself by placing himself within a large clay bubble (which is about 5 ft. in diameter.) The bubble's outer layer of course, will have been strengthened to be as durable as steel or diamond (and with enough training on the user's part, it could potentially rival the durability of Sea Stone,) making this a much more reliable defensive technique than the standard Clay Clay Shield. However, if done on the ground, there will be one glaring weakness: There will be no way of preventing an attack from underground (via tunneling underneath the bubble dome.) Post-Time Skip Much like his regular and Art Style: Mainstream techniques, Chris doesn't stick to a particular theme when it comes to the names of his Art Style: Pop attacks after the time skip. Usually, he tends to name them after their appearance or ability. Art Style: Pop Regular Techniques * Clay Clay Pop Capsule (クレイクレイのカプセル Nendo Nendo no Kapuseru): A non-combative method of using the Devil Fruit's powers, the Clay Clay Capsule is meant to mimic the effects of coating as seen on ships as well as people via the flutter kick coating. Wanting to find a way to move about underwater safely, Chris took inspiration from the coating process by producing a sturdy bubble around himself in order to encapsulate himself, thus the name of the technique. By doing so, Chris can create a decent imitation of the genuine article by using the air he's pumped out of his skin to act as his limited air supply, as well as using his bubble's steel-hard surface tension to withstand the ocean's immense pressure around him. This has also prevented him from coming into direct contact with seawater, allowing for efficient independent travel in and under water without drowning or becoming weakened in the process. However, the capsule has its limitations too, such as being capable of popping at any second should anything more powerful or sharp enough penetrate it, which would leave Chris immediately helpless in the process. Likewise, like with true flutter kick coating, should Chris need to use his powers underwater, he'll be forced to extend one or more appendages outside of the bubble, leaving him weakened from his contact with water, due to being unable to stretch or morph his bubbles' shape without popping it in the process. On the fortunate side however, he has also learned to share this ability with others, by "coating" allies and companions in his clay bubbles, thus allowing them to also travel underwater for brief periods at a time. * Clay Clay Pop Implode: * Clay Clay Pop Mayhem: * Clay Clay True Pop Implosion: * Clay Clay True Pop: This is one of Chris' strongest Pop techniques, and one of his strongest techniques in general. The reason for this is because of how the attack is performed, leading to its realization of its destructive potential. What Chris will do, is he will create a standard Clay Clay Pop Pop bubble in one of his hands. But before tossing the bubble, Chris will shrink it, and the air inside it, in order to pressurize the air within, until the bubble is no more than 1/4th of the size of Chris' hand. Afterward, Chris will thrust the miniaturized bubble at his intended target. Once the bubble hits, it will burst open on contact, and release the pent up air from within, creating a tremendously massive shockwave, due to the built up energy releasing all at once. The sound the shockwave makes is similar to that of thunder, since the air will have expanded at an incredibly fast rate. The damage caused by Clay Clay True Pop is enough to demolish ships whole, even Galleons. What's more, is that this Clay Clay technique has enough destructive potential to wipe away cities and towns clean off the map in one shot. And due to how the air expands in all directions with menacing fury, there is very little hope to evade this attack, if one can find a way to do so at all. On the downside however, is that in order to perform this technique, Chris requires a large amount of focus and concentration. After the technique is used, Chris will have become weary from the energy he has put into making it. Thus, this attack is usually saved for emergencies as Chris' ace in the hole, or for when he needs to One Hit K.O. an enemy quickly. Art Style: Pop Haki Enhanced Techniques * Clay Clay Pop Piercing Bubble: The first Art Style: Pop technique Chris unveiled after the time skip. By creating a bubble that fits in the palm of either hand, and then coating it with Busoshoku Haki, Chris hardens the bubble's surface to even greater heights. Afterward, the bubble is thrown at a designated target. Since the bubble is much more solid than Chris' non-Haki infused bubbles, and as the smaller size reduces air friction, thus increasing speed, the bubble is capable of shooting through solid objects like a bullet. External Links Hyperventilation - Wikipedia article about hyperventilation, which Chris goes through after overusing Art Style: Pop Site Navigation Category:Fighting Styles Category:Wyvern 0m3g4